Young Pip (Gabriel Thomson) lives with his tyrranical sister (Lesley Sharp) and her blacksmith husband, Joe. Joe will always care for Pip, but his wife’s exacting criticism and harsh tongue forge an extra bond between the kindly blacksmith and the young boy. A nightmarish encounter with an escaped convict, Magwitch, (Bernard Hill) is a monumental event in Pip’s childhood, as is his enforced visit to the stately Satis House.There he meets rich, eccentric Miss Havisham (Charlotte Rampling), who lives alone with her adopted daughter, Estella (Gemma Gregory). Pip is both enticed and repelled by the young Estella, who seems to him proud and rude but exceptionally beautiful. Estella mocks Pip for his humble status, making him long even more to be rich and educated, as she is. Episode One draws to a close when a confused and unhappy Pip is informed by Miss Havisham that his company at Satis House will no longer be required, as Estella is soon to go to school. Challenged to a fight by a spirited but unidentified young man in the grounds of the house, Pip returns home more dismayed than ever.
Great Expectations
- Episode
- Description
Episode Two begins as young Pip’s future is being decided - despite his desire for an education and a change in his status - that he will become Joe’s apprentice at the forgery. As Pip (Ioan Gruffudd) grows from a boy to a young man, there seems little hope that his dreams will ever be fulfilled until he is visited one day by a lawyer, Jaggers (Ian McDiarmid). Jaggers informs Pip that he has an anonymous benefactor. Pip may accept the chance offered to him, to travel to London and live and be educated as a gentleman, but it is a condition of acceptance that the benefactor’s identity remain concealed. Pip mistakenly assumes that Miss Havisham is responsible for this change in his fortune. He still believes that he is in love with Estella (Justine Waddell) and now considers that he has a real chance of marrying her one day.
Time has passed and Estella, now a beautiful young woman, comes to London. Brought up by Miss Havisham to wreak havoc on men, Estella cruelly rejects Pip’s advances. Meanwhile Pip is continuing his education in the ways of city society and is now friends with Herbert Pocket, the boy who had formerly fought with him in the grounds of Satis House. Pip, already feeling wretched after seeing Estella flirting with other men, is further devastated when Magwitch, the convict he helped as a young boy, appears and declares himself to be Pip’s benefactor. Magwitch has become rich, after being transported to Australia, and has risked return - under penalty of death - to see how Pip has spent his money. As Episode Three ends, Pip is invited to dine at Jaggers’ house, where he encounters Molly, Jaggers’ housekeeper. On calling at Estella’s residence, he is informed that she is not at home but, as he turns to leave, he spies her at the window.
Pip visits Miss Havisham at Satis House, berating her for the upbringing that has formed Estella’s hard character. He is heartbroken to discover that Estella has married Bentley Drummle (James Hillier). Finally, Miss Havisham, perhaps reminded of her own disappointment in love, is overcome by self-loathing and regret for what she has done to both Estella and Pip in the name of revenge. She begs Pip to forgive her and, as he does so, she accidentally sets fire to herself and is burned to death. Pip urgently seeks to rid himself of Magwitch, by smuggling him onboard a steamer bound for Europe, but the escape is foiled by police, Magwitch is recaptured and sentenced to death. Meanwhile Pip has discovered that Estella is the daughter of Magwitch and Molly, which warms him to the convict and makes him feel closer to Estella. Magwitch dies before reaching the scaffold and Pip becomes profoundly depressed. He descends into alcoholic oblivion and is rescued from debtor’s prison by Joe. He returns to the village where he grew up, a somewhat wiser and more generous person. He once again meets Estella, who too has learned some harsh lessons. She and Pip are reconciled, if not as lovers, then at least as equals.
